Image Generating and Playing-Piece-Interacting Assembly

ABSTRACT

A baseplate assembly, used with releasably coupleable playing pieces, includes a baseplate operably coupled to an image generating device. The baseplate includes a display region, having playing pieces coupling elements, and means for transmitting images generated by the image generating device to the display region. An image generating and playing-piece-interacting assembly includes a receptor operably coupled to an image generating device, having a display screen for generated images, including integrated visual and optically encoded message images, a playing piece at a location relative to the display screen having an optical display message sensor, and a messaging transponder. The optical display message sensor receives the generated images and generates a first signal at least partially based upon the optically encoded message image. The messaging transponder receives the first signal and generates and sends the receptor a second signal at least partially based thereon.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/943,632 (Atty Docket No. KARU 1002-9), filed 17 Nov. 2015, entitledBaseplate Assembly for Use with Toy Pieces, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/760,880 (Atty Docket No. KARU1002-1), filed 6 Feb. 2013, entitled Baseplate Assembly for Use with ToyPieces, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,403,100, issued 2 Aug. 2016, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/681,143(Atty Docket No. KARU 1001-1), filed 19 Nov. 2012, entitled Toy Brickwith Sensing, Actuation and Control, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/633,824, filed 17 Feb. 2012.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Toy pieces in the form of toy bricks such as LEGO® brand toy bricks havebeen available for many decades. Toy bricks typically have releasablecouplings between bricks, which allow them to be connected to form alarger structure. In their simplest form they build unanimated objectssuch as castles or houses. In some cases, the toy created using toybricks can be supported on a baseplate having coupling elements toprovide stability or proper positioning, or both, for the toy.

An advancement of toy bricks was the addition of bricks with a rotatingjoint or axel coupled to a wheel. Such a toy brick can be attached to aninanimate structure in order to make that structure roll along a surfacewhen pushed.

A further advancement of toy bricks was the addition of “pull backmotors.” These motors are mechanical energy storage elements, whichstore energy in a watch spring or flywheel. Typically these are toybricks which have the “pull back motor” mechanism contained within thebrick. There is a shaft from the mechanism, which when turned in onedirection winds up the motor and then when released will turn in theopposite direction. A toy brick car, for example, equipped with such amotor will wind up when pulled back and then go forwards when released.An example of this is the LEGO Pullback Motor.

The next stage of advancement of a toy brick is an electric motorcontained within one brick, having a protruding shaft and another toybrick with a battery compartment. These battery and motor bricks can becoupled to each other directly or through wires in order to create asimple mechanism that is electrically actuated. Typically a switch ispresent on the brick containing the batteries that can turn the motor onor off or revere its direction. Variations on the actuator can belights, instead of a motor. An example of this is the LEGO eLab.

Toy bricks containing motors and toy bricks containing batteries can befurther enhanced by the insertion of a remote control receiver inbetween them, such that the passage of power can be modified remotely.Typically a hand held remote control transmitter transmits a signal to areceiver brick, which can change the speed or direction of the motor. Byway of example, a toy brick vehicle constructed in such a manner can besteered remotely and also have its speed controlled remotely. An exampleof this is the LEGO Power Functions.

The most complex state of prior art is the programmable robotics kitsold by the LEGO Group under the trademark Mindstorms®. The kittypically includes a handheld programmable computer, to which sensorsand actuators can be plugged in, along with toy bricks and specializedcomponents for making a variety of projects. Actuators can be motors, orsolenoids, speakers, or lights. Sensors can be switches, microphones,light sensors or ultrasonic rangefinders. By way of example, a programcan be downloaded into the handheld computer, so as to control a motorin a manner so as to avoid collisions with objects in the direction ofmotion. Another example would be to make a noise when motion isdetected. Another programmable Mindstorms programmable robot is theMicro Scout. It is a motorized wheeled robot in which severalpreprogrammed sequences can be executed when a light is shined on therobot.

US patent publication US2011/0217898 A1 describes a toy brick with atilt sensor and lights of the same color turning on and off or flashingalternately in response to a shaking motion. U.S. Pat. No. 7,708,615discloses a toy brick system having separate sensor bricks, logic bricksand function bricks. The following toy bricks also emit sound when aswitch is closed. LEGO doorbell Brick #5771, LEGO Space Sound Brick#55206C05.

Various devices generate images on display screens. One type of imagegenerating device is a computer, such as pad computer, which can bedesigned to permit interaction with the computer through the displayscreen. This is commonly through touchscreen technology which permitsactions to be initiated by, for example, selecting appropriate icons onthe display screen, as well as lines to be drawn on the display screen.In addition to touchscreen technologies, interaction with the computerthrough the display screen can also be through the use of devicescommonly referred to as light pens. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No.4,677,428. In Light pen based interaction, images are generated on aCathode Ray Tube (CRT) by excitation of the phosphor on the screen by anelectron beam. This excitation causes the emission of light. Since asingle point electron beam scans the image in a raster pattern, thelight at any one point on the screen fades with time, as the beamprogresses to a different part of the screen. During the next scan ofthe screen the image is refreshed. The intensity at any one point on thescreen will flicker at the rate of refresh of the screen, and istypically a sawtooth type waveform with a fast rise and a slower decayif plotted in time. The light from any given point on the screen willincrease sharply as the electron beam passes by any location as long asthe image is not completely black at that point on the screen. Thedisplay knows the position of the electron beam at any given time, andthis position can be captured at the instant when a sharp jump in alight level is seen by the light pen. By this method the light pen canbe used as a pointing device, typically with additional buttons similarto mouse buttons, which are sometimes arranged so as to be mechanicallyactivated when the pen is pressed against a surface.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first example of a baseplate assembly, for use with playing piecesconfigured to allow the playing pieces to be releasably coupled to oneanother, includes a baseplate and an image generating device operablycoupled to the baseplate. The baseplate includes a display region,having coupling elements, by which playing pieces can be releasablymounted to the display region. Display region also includes areasadjacent to the coupling elements. The baseplate assembly also includesmeans for transmitting images generated by the image generating deviceat least to the display region of the baseplate.

Some embodiments of the first example of the baseplate assembly caninclude one or more the following. The image generating device caninclude a display screen on which images are generated. The imagestransmitting means can include a generally transparent portion of thebaseplate whereby images generated on the display screen can passthrough the baseplate to be viewed at the display region of thebaseplate. The baseplate can be removably mounted to the imagegenerating device. The image generating device can include a computer.The baseplate assembly can include a playing piece releasably mounted toa first location on the display region using a coupling element; withthe image generating device being a computer, the playing piece and thebaseplate can include computer program instructions stored on anon-transit storage medium that, when executed on a processor, cause theprocessor to perform actions comprising flow or branching dependent uponthe messages received from the playing pieces. The baseplate can beconstructed so that the images generated by image generating device passthrough the baseplate and are visible through the coupling elements andthrough the areas adjacent to the coupling elements. The assembly canfurther include a playing piece releasably mounted to a first locationon the display region using a coupling element, and a coil forgenerating a magnetic field for at least one of the following: (1)transferring energy from the baseplate to the playing piece, and (2)transferring a signal to and receiving a signal from the playing piece.The assembly can further include a playing piece releasably mounted to afirst location on the display region using a coupling element, theplaying piece comprising at least one of a radio frequencyidentification (RFID) device and a near field communication (NFC)transponder activatable upon receipt of an optical signal by the playingpiece. The playing piece can further include a touch sensitive membraneoperably coupled to the image generating device, and the baseplate caninclude a plurality of access regions overlying the touch sensitivemembrane to permit a user to provide a touch input to the membrane at atleast a selected one of the access regions. The baseplate can include agrid of first and second sets of spaced apart electrodes, the first setof electrodes extending in a direction transverse to the second set ofelectrodes, with the first and second sets of electrodes operablycoupled to the image generating device.

A second example of a baseplate assembly includes a baseplate body, theplaying piece and the triangulating means. The baseplate body includes aplaying pieces support surface with the playing piece at a position onthe playing pieces support surface. The triangulating means beingassociated with the playing piece and the baseplate body for generatingsignals indicating the presence of the playing piece at the position onthe playing pieces support surface. In some embodiments of the secondexample, the baseplate body can include coupling elements by which theplaying piece can be releasably mounted to the playing pieces supportsurface.

An example of a baseplate is for use with (1) an image generator havinga display screen on which images can be generated, and (2) playingpieces configured to allow the playing pieces to be releasably coupledto one another. The baseplate includes a body and mounting structure.The body includes a display region with comprising coupling elements, bywhich playing pieces can be releasably mounted to the display region,and regions adjacent to the coupling elements. The body also includes aninner region, the inner and display regions being on opposite sides ofthe baseplate. The mounting structure by can be used to removably mountthe body to an image generator so that the inner region of the body ispositioned adjacent to the display screen of the image generator. Atleast a portion of the body between the inner region and the displayregion can be generally transparent so that images generated at thedisplay screen of the image generator can pass through the body to thedisplay region and be visible at the coupling elements and at theregions adjacent to the coupling elements.

An example of an image generating and playing-piece-interactingassembly, for use with playing pieces, includes an image generatingdevice, a receptor operably coupled to the image generating device, anda first playing piece. The image generating device has a display screenon which generated images can be displayed. The generated images includeintegrated visual and optically encoded message images. The firstplaying piece can be at a first location relative to the display screen.The first playing piece includes an optical display message sensor and amessaging transponder. The optical display message sensor is configuredto receive the integrated visual and optically encoded message image andto generate a first signal at least partially based upon the opticallyencoded message image. The messaging transponder is coupled to theoptical display message sensor for receipt of at least the first signalfrom the optical display message sensor. The messaging transponder isalso coupled to the receptor for generating and sending to the receptora second signal at least partially based upon the first signal.

Some embodiments of an image generating and playing-piece-interactingassembly can include one or more the following. The receptor can be atleast one of a sound receptor, an electromagnetic radiation receptor,and a magnetic field receptor, and the second signal can include acorresponding one of a sound second signal, an electromagnetic radiationfield second signal, and a magnetic field second signal. The assemblycan include a baseplate mountable on the display screen, the baseplateincluding a display region, the display region including couplingelements by which playing pieces can be releasably mounted to thedisplay region. The optically encoded message image can be visuallyimperceptible to a user. The optically encoded message image can containinformation encoded as being addressed to a specific playing piece. Thesecond signal can include one or more of the following (1) graphicrepresentation for the first playing piece, (2) other information forthe first playing piece, and (3) an address into at least one of a localdatabase, a remote database, a look-up table; which contains informationfor the first playing piece. The optically encoded message image canchange according to the physical position of the optically encodedmessage image on the display screen. The optically encoded message imagecan contain information regarding at least one of (1) coordinates forthe physical position, and (2) information regarding the visual imageportion of the generated image at the physical position, (3) gaming datafor the playing piece, (4) data for an actuator on the playing piece.The optically encoded message image can be generated at a number ofphysical positions on the display screen, and a second playing piece canbe at a second location relative to the display screen. The assembly canalso include first and second operably coupled image generating devices,a second playing piece at a second location relative to the displayscreen of the second image generating device, and an optically encodedmessage image to the second playing piece can be at least partiallybased upon the second signal from the playing piece. A second playingpiece can be at a second location relative to the display screen, theoptically encoded message image to the second playing piece can be atleast partially based upon the second signal from the first playingpiece. The each of first playing piece and the second playing piece eachcan include a playing-piece-to-playing-piece communication device topermit transfer of messages therebetween. The first playing piece caninclude a sensor coupled to the messaging transponder to provide sensordata to the messaging transponder, so that the second signal can begenerated at least in part based on the sensor data. The first playingpiece can include at least one of (1) an actuator operably coupled toreceive a message from the optical display message sensor, and (2) anactuator operably coupled to receive a message from the messagingtransponder, the message comprising data for actuation of the actuator.

Other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention can beseen on review the drawings, the detailed description, and the claimswhich follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-35, described below, are taken from U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/681,143.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a toy brick including a solar cell and anactuator shaft.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of internal components of a toy brick.

FIG. 3 is an example of a toy brick including an induction chargingdevice.

FIG. 4 is an example of a toy brick including a microphone or a lightdetector.

FIG. 5 is an example of a toy brick including an RF receiver or a GPSsensor.

FIG. 6 is an example of a toy brick including a 3-D tilt, or gyroscope,or gravity sensor.

FIG. 7 is an example of a toy brick including a camera.

FIG. 8 is an example of a toy brick including one or both of a shaftangle sensor and a shaft extension sensor.

FIG. 9 is an example of a gripper force toy brick including a grippingforce sensor including a strain gauge rosette.

FIG. 10 illustrates, in a simplified manner, components within thegripper force brick of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is example of a toy brick including electrical switches at anoutside surface.

FIG. 12 is a simplified view showing how the electrical switches of thetoy brick of FIG. 11 are connected to the computing control element ofthe toy block.

FIG. 13 is an example of a toy brick including a temperature transducer.

FIG. 14 is a simplified view illustrating how the temperature transducerof FIG. 13 is coupled to the computing control element of the toy brickthrough an amplifier.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an example of a microcontroller for usewith a toy brick.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating power management signal detectionand actuation.

FIG. 17 is an example of a toy brick including a light source.

FIG. 18 is an example of a toy brick including a speaker.

FIG. 19 is an example of a toy brick including a flat display.

FIG. 20 is an example of a toy brick including at least one of anorganic LED and an organic LCD.

FIG. 21 is an example of a toy brick including a projected image from aprojected image display.

FIG. 22 is an example of a toy brick including an image from a fiberoptic display.

FIG. 23 is an example of a toy airplane built with toy bricks, which canemit sound or turn a propeller when moved as detected by a motionsensor.

FIG. 24 is an example of a toy car with a toy brick including a motionsensor, a recorder, and a speaker for emission of car sounds.

FIG. 25 is an example of a toy train built with toy bricks, including acamera brick as in FIG. 7 for display of an image from the camera on amobile or fixed computing device.

FIGS. 26, 27 and 28 illustrate examples of toy bricks shaped as flyinginsects or aircraft and displaying images reminiscent of differentinsects or aircraft.

FIG. 29 illustrates a mobile computing device used to update the imageon the flying insect or aircraft toy bricks of FIGS. 26-28.

FIG. 30 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example of a toybrick solar panel recharging system.

FIG. 31 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example of a toybrick inductively coupled recharging system including an inductivecharging device.

FIG. 32 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a crash testrecording algorithm.

FIG. 33 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of an addressabledevice communication algorithm.

FIG. 34 is a flow diagram illustrating a color change brick algorithm.

FIG. 35 is an algorithm for manipulation of toy brick avatars.

FIG. 36 is an overall view of a baseplate assembly with a portion of thebaseplate removed to disclose the display region of the image generatingdevice.

FIG. 37 shows a first example where the image is generated remotely fortransmission to baseplate 202 using a DLP projection system.

FIG. 38 shows a second example where the image is generated remotelyusing a mirror to direct the image from the display screen onto thebaseplate.

FIGS. 39 and 40 illustrate two examples for transmitting the image tothe upper surface of the baseplate using optical fibers.

FIGS. 41, 42 and 43 top plan views of a baseplate assembly in which thebaseplate includes a first portion offset from and surrounding thedisplay screen.

FIG. 42 shows the structure of FIG. 41 with a second portion of thebaseplate positioned within the interior of the first portion andproviding an open region permit direct visual access to a portion of thedisplay screen.

FIG. 43 shows the structure of FIG. 41 with an alternative secondportion of the baseplate occupying the entire interior of the firstportion of the baseplate thereby completely covering the display screen.

FIG. 44 is a simplified partial cross-sectional view of an example ofthe baseplate assembly of FIG. 36 in which the image generating deviceincludes a touch sensitive membrane situated directly above the displayscreen, portions of the baseplate that surround the coupling elementsbeing flexible elements permitting the coupling elements to be deflectedby a user from the spaced apart position shown in FIG. 44 to a positioncontacting the touch sensitive membrane.

FIGS. 45 and 46 show alternative examples of the structure of FIG. 44 inwhich the flexible elements are zigzag thin flexible elements in FIG. 45and are spaced apart elements created by cutouts in the baseplate in theexample of FIG. 46.

FIG. 47 is a further alternative example of the structure of FIG. 44 inwhich the access regions are created by holes formed in the baseplate atpositions offset from the coupling elements.

FIG. 48 is a simplified partial top view of a baseplate including a gridof first and second sets of spaced apart, parallel electrodes orientedtransversely to one another used to determine where on the baseplate theuser is touching the baseplate directly or through a toy brick.

FIG. 49 is a simplified cross-sectional view illustrating an example ofa baseplate including capacitive touch electrodes.

FIG. 50 is a simplified top view of a portion of the baseplate assemblyof FIG. 36 showing an image projected onto the display region of thebaseplate. Based upon the location of a toy brick on the baseplate,information, such as a message or signal, can be provided the toy brickby the image.

FIG. 51 is a view similar to that of FIG. 50 but in which a portion ofthe image is dimmed to convey information to the toy brick as an opticalencoded message image.

FIG. 52 is a top plan view of a baseplate assembly including a receptorwhich can receive a signal from a toy brick mounted to the displayregion of the baseplate, the signal can be generated in response to theoptical encoded message image projected onto the display region of thebaseplate. The signal generated by the toy brick can include informationsuch as the location of the toy brick and the type of toy brick.

FIG. 53 illustrate an example in which a portion of the image, that isthe optical encoded message image, is in the form of a two dimensionalbarcode which can be scanned or imaged by the toy brick placed on thedisplay region of the baseplate.

FIG. 54 is a flow diagram of an example of software implementation of ascanning routine.

FIG. 55 is a schematic representation of the components of an example ofa baseplate assembly and a toy brick or other playing piece, andinteractions between and among the components.

FIG. 56 is a schematic representation of the manner in which a memorymapped, time varying, communication image and memory mapped, timevarying, gaming image are combined to create the memory mapped, timevarying, displayed image.

FIG. 57 is a schematic representation of the manner in which a memorymapped, time varying, message data is modified by a memory mapped timevarying, modulation function in order to obtain memory mapped, timevarying, communication data.

FIG. 58 shows an example of an implementation including a baseplateassembly and a near field communication (NFC) reader and the use of RFIDtags.

FIG. 59 is a block diagram showing interaction between the baseplate anda toy brick or other playing piece where and RFID tags are used, such asin the example of FIG. 58.

FIG. 60 is a simplified view of an example of a baseplate assembly inwhich the toy brick or other playing piece has more than one opticalreceptor.

FIG. 61 is a schematic representation of a baseplate including columnscan lines extending in one direction and row scan lines extending in atransverse direction, the scan lines bounding the coupling elements.Electrical coils are connected to the row and column scan lines at theirintersections for communication with toy bricks, typically positioneddirectly above the coils.

FIG. 62 shows structure similar to that of FIG. 61 but having a lightemitting device, such as an LED, at each intersecting row and columnline and adjacent to coupling elements.

FIG. 63 shows a baseplate assembly including triangulatingtransmitters/receptors at the four corners of the baseplate to permitthe position of the toy brick on the baseplate to be determined.

FIGS. 64, 65, 66 and 67 show different modes of communication by the toybrick or other playing piece.

FIG. 68 is a simplified schematic diagram showing a baseplate andtriangulating transmitters/receptors at the corners.

FIG. 69 is a simplified side cross-sectional view of a toy brick with acombination of straight, parallel optical fibers and curved opticalfibers two direct the image to more than one surface of the toy brick.

FIG. 70 is somewhat similar to that of FIG. 55 but showing theinteraction among two playing pieces and one image generating device,the image generating device including a receptor as shown in FIG. 52.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description will typically be with reference to specificstructural embodiments and methods. It is to be understood that there isno intention to limit the invention to the specifically disclosedembodiments and methods but that the invention may be practiced usingother features, elements, methods and embodiments. Preferred embodimentsare described to illustrate the present invention, not to limit itsscope, which is defined by the claims. Those of ordinary skill in theart will recognize a variety of equivalent variations on the descriptionthat follows. Like elements in various embodiments are commonly referredto with like reference numerals.

The prior art discussed above consists of inanimate toy bricks suitablefor small children, or more complex powered and wired or coupled toybrick elements, which must be assembled intelligently, in order toperform a function. The toy bricks which require intelligent coupling inorder to perform a function are suitable for much older children.Examples of the toy brick described herein allow some animationfunctions to be experienced by younger children, without requiring themto understand electrical concepts. The toy bricks, as well as otherplaying pieces, are also well-suited for use with baseplate assembliesdiscussed below starting with FIG. 36.

In addition, the prior art discussed above typically requires wiringbetween blocks to provide power to and control functions between theblocks. Such wires or connection between blocks distract from the objectto be created by the blocks. Examples of the toy brick will also allowsome functions to be achieved without the use of wires. While the toybrick building system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,708,615 does notrequire wires, it discloses the use of function bricks, sensor bricksand logic bricks which require intelligent assembly and thus may not besuitable for younger children.

An intent of the various examples of the toy brick is to provide the enduser with a rich experience from a toy brick, without burdening the userwith needing to gain knowledge of how that experience is delivered.Typically a user would perform an action in order to initiate theexperience, sensors and a controller within the toy brick would detectthe interaction of the user with the brick, the toy brick will thenautomatically perform an action, in response to the stimulus.

As shown in FIG. 1, a first example of a toy brick is a single toy brick10 including a housing 12 typically of size 3 inches or less on eachside, the housing carrying coupling elements 14 used to releasablycouple housing 12 of one toy brick 10 to the housing of another toybrick. The coupling element typically include pegs or other extendingelements acting as first coupling elements which mate with correspondingopenings, not shown, formed on housing 12 of other toy bricks 10. Forease of illustration only one set of peg-type coupling elements 14 areshown. Coupling elements 14 are typically conventional and may becompatible with coupling elements used with LEGO® brand toy bricks. Thetoy brick 10 example of FIG. 1 also includes a solar cell 16 mounted toone side of housing 12 and a shaft 18 extending from another side ofhousing 12. Solar cell 16 forms part of the power source for a toy brick10 while shaft 18 is a type of actuator. These features will bediscussed in more detail below. A toy brick 10 will also include sensingand control functions integrated within the toy brick.

Such a toy brick 10 would perform a function in response to a stimulus.The function to be performed is dependent on the sensors present, theprogramming of the controller, and the actuators present on toy brick10, which are discussed in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram 20 of the main functional components of anexample of toy brick 10. In this example, the charging device 22, whichtypically is in the form of solar cell 16 or an inductive chargingdevice 24 shown in FIG. 3, is mounted to or is an integral part ofhousing 12. Solar cell 16 can be used to create electricity from light.Inductive charging device 24 uses electromagnetic induction to createelectrical current to charge energy storage element 26. An externalcharging station, not shown, creates an alternate magnetic field and ispositioned near the coils of inductive charging device 24 to sendelectromagnetic energy to inductive charging device 24 thereby inducingan electrical current within the coils of inductive charging device 24.Charging device 22 is connected to a rechargeable electrical energystorage element 26 by a line 28. Energy storage element 26 is typicallyin the form of a battery. However, energy storage element 26 can also beof other types, such as a capacitive energy storage element. Chargingdevice 22 and energy storage element 26 constitute a power source 29.Energy storage element 26 is connected by power lines 36 to at least onesensing element 30, a computing control element 32, and usually to atleast one actuator 34. Sensing element 30 communicates with computingcontrol element 32 through a line 38 while computing control element 32is coupled to actuator 34 by a line 39. In some cases, any powerrequired by actuator 34 may be provided through, for example, computingcontrol element 32.

The provision of a rechargeable power source 29 within the toy brick 10will allow the toy brick 10 to be incorporated into structures withoutthe need for wires. Further, recharging capability will allow any modelor other structure built with the toy brick 10 to exist withoutrequiring disassembly for replacing or recharging the batteries. Theability to transfer electrical power without electrical contact willalso allow the brick to be hermetically sealed, so as to be childfriendly.

A function of some examples of the toy brick is to detect an input viathe sensing element 30, then determine via computation or other logic asdescribed below if the input conditions satisfy the predeterminedrequirements to actuate one or more actuators 34, and if so actuate oneor more actuators 34, typically in sequence or simultaneously as per apredetermined pattern.

Sensing elements 30 can be one or more of the following: (1) amicrophone 40 for reception of a sound encoded trigger, such as, but notlimited to a clapping sound or voice recognition as shown in FIG. 4; (2)an infrared or visible light detector 42 for receiving a light encodedtrigger as shown in FIG. 4, such as but not limited to a signal from aninfrared remote, or the passage of a flashlight beam across a lightsensor; (3) an RF transceiver 44 for detecting a radio frequency encodedtrigger as shown in FIG. 5, such as but not limited to a Bluetoothsignal from an iPad; (4) a 3 dimensional tilt sensor, or gyroscopicsensor, or gravity sensor 46, as shown in FIG. 6 for detecting a motiontriggered event such as but not limited to, a shaking of the toy brick10 or orientation of the toy brick, or a time course of certain motionsof the toy brick; (5) a camera 48 for capturing still or moving images,as shown in FIG. 7; (6) a position triangulation sensor 50 such as butnot limited to a global positioning sensor as shown in FIG. 5; (7) ashaft angle sensor 52, as shown in FIG. 8; and (8) a shaft extensionsensor 54 also shown in FIG. 8.

A gripping force sensor 56, typically in the form of a strain gaugerosette as shown in FIG. 9, can be used to sense forces exerted on toybrick 10. FIG. 10 illustrates, in a simplified manner, components withina toy brick 10, sometimes referred to as a gripper force brick 10,including an amplifier 58 coupled to computing control element 32. Forexample, two push button electrical switches 60. Although switches 60are shown both on one side of toy brick 10, a greater or lesser numbercan be used and can be on more than one side. FIG. 12 illustrates, in asimplified form, switches 60 coupled to computing control element 32within toy brick 10

In some examples, not illustrated, toy brick 10 may be constructed sothat it takes more force to decouple a component, such as power source29, actuator 34 or sensing element 30, from housing 12 than it does todecouple the housing 12 of one toy brick 10 from the housing 12 ofanother toy brick 10.

FIG. 13 shows a temperature transducer type of toy brick 10 whichincludes a temperature transducer 62 typically secured along the insidesurface of one of the walls of the toy brick. Temperature transducer 62may be of different types including resistive, thermocouple, andsemiconductor temperature transducers. FIG. 14 shows temperaturetransducer 62 coupled to computing control element 32 through anamplifier 64. Computing control element 32 can be implemented by, but isnot limited to, a microprocessor, or analog or digital circuit, or fuzzylogic controller. FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating oneexample of a computing control element 32 in the form of amicroprocessor. The programming of computing control element 32 can bepreset at the factory, or may be programmable or reprogrammable in thefield.

Computing control element 32, in the example of FIG. 15, is a singlechip microcontroller. A microcontroller is a microprocessor with severaldifferent peripherals such as memory, communication devices, input andoutput devices built into a one-piece silicon die.

Peripherals can include but are not limited to: USB (Universal SerialBus), USART (universal synchronous/asynchronous receiver transmitter),I2C (I-squared-C) computer bus, ADC (Analog to Digital Converter), DAC(Digital to Analog Converter), Timers, Pulse Width Modulators, FlashMemory, RAM Memory, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read OnlyMemory), Bluetooth interface, Ethernet interface, liquid crystal driverinterface. An example of such microcontrollers would be the TexasInstruments TMS320LF28XX family or MSP430 family of microcontrollers.

Typically a microcontroller is designed to perform a specific task, andonly requires a subset of all possible peripherals to be present inorder to perform that task. Usually only the input and output of theperipheral devices are externally accessible via metal pins. Theinternal data and memory access bus structure is not typically connectedto the externally accessible pins of the chip.

The microcontroller receives signals as electrical voltages or currents,presented to one or more of its externally accessible pins. Thesesignals are typically sampled on a one time basis, continuously, or at aregular time intervals by circuitry within the microcontroller, such asan analog to digital converter. The time course and amplitude of such asignal may be kept in the internal memory and analyzed by algorithms. Byway of example, a speech recognition algorithm may analyze digitizedspeech from a microphone, or a motion detection algorithm may analyzesignals from accelerometers or tilt switches.

The algorithms which analyze the digitized electrical signals, can bewritten in a language such as Basic, C or Assembly. The Algorithms mayimplement logical functions such as: “IF INPUT signal is GREATER THAN aVALUE THEN turn ON an OUTPUT”. The signals may in addition betransformed by transforms such as but not limited to the Fouriertransform, or form feedback based algorithms in the S or Z domain suchas Kalman Filters. Other algorithms such as neural network based fuzzylogic are also implementable. Indeed almost any algorithm that can berun on a personal computer can be implemented on a microcontroller baseddesign.

Signals received may also be from a communication device, such as aBluetooth link to an external device such as an iPad® or other tabletcomputer. Such signals may contain a full message of actions to perform,requiring the microcontroller to perform those actions rather thanattempt to make a decision as to if actuation is warranted.

Computing control element 32, in the form of microcontroller 32,receives electrical signals, performs analysis of said signals and thenperforms an action. Signals for actuation are sent as electrical signalsfrom the pins of microcontroller 32. By way of example, actuation suchas making a noise may require microcontroller 32 to create a time courseof electrical signal amplitudes, which may be accomplished by means of aDAC (Digital to Analog Converter) which varies the amplitude of thevoltage on a pin of microcontroller 32. In another embodiment, actuationof a display, for example, may require microcontroller 32 to send outRGB (Red/Green/Blue) intensities to various display pixels in order tocreate an image.

Microcontroller 32 may in addition manage battery charging and alsoconservation of power by powering down peripherals, and even entering alow power mode (sleep mode) and only exit from the low power mode (wakeup) at either certain intervals to check if signals are present, or maywake up due to a signal being presented to one or more peripherals whichare capable of waking the microcontroller from a sleep state.

Computing control element 32 analyzes the signals from the one or moresensing elements 30, as described below by way of example in FIG. 16,and makes a determination as to if actuation is warranted, and thensends signals to one or more actuators 34 as prescribed by the logic orprogramming of the computing control element 32. The computing controlelement 32 will also typically have memory that is readable andwriteable, and may be nonvolatile. The programming of computing controlelement 32 may, in some examples, be altered in the field by erasing andrewriting the program memory via wireless download, for example. Dataform signals monitored may also be stored in the memory for laterretrieval. For example, a toy brick 10 that is involved in a crash testmay have its motion during the crash stored inside the memory of thecomputing control element 32 of the toy brick for later retrieval anddisplay, or a video or picture may be stored on the toy brick for laterretrieval and display.

An example of a process for power management, signal detection andactuation is shown in FIG. 16. Initially, after start step 65, computingcontrol element 32 is in a powered down mode as indicated at step 66. Atstep 68, if there is no signal from a sensing element 30, the programreturns to step 66. If there is a signal from a sensing element 30, theprogram resets power on the timer at step 70 to a fixed predeterminednumber, such as 60 seconds. After step 70, there is an inquiry at step72 whether or not there is a signal. If there is a signal, such as froman accelerometer, an appropriate actuation, such as emission of a sound,is conducted if conditions for the actuation are satisfied at step 74,followed by return to step 70. If there is no signal, control passes tostep 76 and the power on the timer is reduced. Control then passes tostep 78 where the inquiry of whether power on the timer has expired ismade. If yes, control is returned to step 66. If no, control is returnedto step 72.

Actuators which generate the output of a toy brick 10 can be, but arenot limited to, one or more light sources 80, as shown in FIG. 17 andsound emission devices, such as speaker 82 as shown in FIG. 18. Inaddition, output can be generated by graphical displays including flatdisplays 84 as shown in FIG. 19, organic LED or organic LCD wraparounddisplays 86 as shown in FIG. 20, projected image displays 88 and theassociated projected image 90 as shown in FIG. 21, and fiber-opticdisplays 92 and the associate projected image 94. In addition, outputcan be generated by a variety of other devices such as motors, radiotransmitters, radio transceivers and solenoids. Actuators 34 can alsoinclude various types of transmitters. Actuation can be simple on/off ormore complex actions such as but not limited to transmission of a radiosignal, or even a time course of actions.

Examples of Various Embodiments of Toy Bricks:

By way of example, in one embodiment, a single brick 10, similar to thatshown in FIG. 1, may, when left undisturbed simply go to a “sleep”state, such as when power on the timer has expired at step 78 in FIG.16, while charging its battery or other energy storage element viaambient light, from a solar cell 16 on one of its surfaces. Then whenbrick 10 is lifted, it may, for example, emit the sound of an airplanetaking off, when dived make the sound of an airplane diving, and whenshaken emit the sound of guns. Such a brick 10 would be suited to thebuilding of a toy brick fighter aircraft as shown in FIG. 23. The toybrick fighter aircraft as shown in FIG. 23 is constructed with a singletoy brick 10 including the components illustrated in FIG. 2. The othertoy bricks used in the construction of the toy brick fighter aircraftare conventional toy bricks without the components of FIG. 2. However,as discussed below, additional toy bricks 10 could be used in theconstruction of the toy airplane.

In yet another embodiment, a single brick with integral solar powerbattery and Bluetooth receiver, again see FIG. 1, may spin a small motorwith a shaft protruding from one side, when a Bluetooth radio signal isreceived from, for example, a tablet computer, such as an iPad®, or asmart phone, such as an iPhone®. Such a brick may be used in a windmill,for example. Another use of such a brick may be to build several smalltoy brick airplanes 96, as shown in FIG. 23, which can be remotely madeto turn their propellers 98 when a Bluetooth signal is sent from amobile or fixed computing or communication device.

In yet another embodiment, shown used as a component of a racecar 100 inFIG. 24, a brick 10 may incorporate several features, such as speaker 82of the brick 10 of FIG. 18, and 3-D movement sensor 46 of the brick 10of FIG. 6, and make an engine revving sound when moved back and forthand the sound of a car “peeling tires” when pushed fast in onedirection.

In yet another embodiment, a clear brick 10, similar to that of FIG. 17,with a self-contained power source may have red, green, and blue lightsources 80 within it and have its color set by remote from an iPad perthe computer algorithm described below with reference to FIG. 34 or, inanother embodiment, change color when held at different orientations bymeans of actuation being controlled by a tilt or gravity sensor.

In yet another embodiment as Shown in FIG. 25, a toy brick 10 with acamera 48 similar to that shown in FIG. 7, may transmit a video signalvia Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to a mobile or fixed device including a displayscreen. Such a brick when incorporated into a model such as, but notlimited to, a toy brick train 102, will enable a view 104 as seen fromthe toy to be experienced by the user on, for example, a tablet computerscreen.

In yet another embodiment, not illustrated, a toy brick 10 with a camera48 and integral face or object recognition algorithm may greet a childwith a sound such as “Hello John” when approached. The face to berecognized and the sound to be emitted by the brick may be userdownloadable into the toy brick 10 via radio link. The face may even beself-learned by the video captured by the camera itself. Alternativelywhen the face is recognized the toy brick may transmit a signal to afixed or mobile computing device.

In yet another embodiment, a sequence of sensing and a sequence ofactuation may be programmed, typically by an adult, into the toy brick10, with perhaps the aid of a user interface running on a fixed ormobile computing device, with radio link or other connection to the toybrick. Once programmed, a child may interact with the brick in a muchsimpler manner.

In yet another embodiment, several different shaped bricks may bemanipulated by a child or other user. The bricks will transmit theirshape and position to a fixed or mobile computing device which will showthe manipulation of the bricks, with correct shape and size in a virtualbuilding environment on a display screen. Transmission of position maybe done by GPS signal, or by a more localized triangulation method, suchas through the use of a baseplate, on which the toy bricks 10 aresupported, with triangulation capability. The following are threeexamples of methods of position triangulation.

Measurement of time delay of signals from a signal source of knownposition: One or more signal sources of known position may send a pulse(“ping”) or encoded message via sound, light or radio wave, at a certaintime. The message may contain the time that this signal was sent. Themessage will be received at a later time by the object that is to betriangulated, in this case typically a toy brick 10. By receivingmessages from 3 or more such sources of known positions, and bycomputing the distance to those sources by measuring the delay betweenthe time that the signal was sent and the time that the signal wasreceived, it is possible to triangulate by standard trigonometricmethods the position of the object to be triangulated. A simplifiedembodiment of a toy brick baseplate can be constructed to be capable oftriangulating an object, such as toy brick 10, placed upon it. Such atriangulating baseplate may contain four or more signal emitters at thecorners, in the plane of the baseplate and also above the plane of thebaseplate. These emitters will emit encoded signals, preferablysimultaneously. Then by measurement of the time delay between receptionof the signals, it would be possible to locate the three-dimensionalposition of a toy brick in the vicinity of the baseplate.

Measurement of the position of known landmarks, by image analysis: Theobject to be triangulated may contain a camera and may compute itsposition by measurement of angles to various landmarks present in theimage. By way of example, a toy brick 10 may contain a camera 48 andanalyze the position of, for example, specific colored or marked bricksor flashing lights, placed in and above the plane of a base plate.

Measurement of the position of an object by analysis of its positionrelative to a known landscape: An object may be photographed in two ormore, preferably orthogonal, views against a known landscape and itsposition computed. By way of example, a toy brick baseplate assembly maybe constructed to contain two or more cameras capable of photographingthe object in plan and elevation, against the baseplate and/or anorthogonal vertical wall with features present upon the baseplate/wall,such as uniquely marked bricks or flashing lights, whose positions areknown.

The bricks may be cemented into position in the virtual environment by agesture of the brick (such as but not limited to a clicking motion) orby pushing a button on the brick as described in the computer algorithmdescribed below with reference to FIG. 35. What is referred to as aclicking motion may be carried out by hovering over a correct positionfollowed by a sharp downward thrust reminiscent of a mouse click. Suchmanipulation will allow the same brick to be used repeatedly to create astructure in the virtual environment, while no physical structure iscreated. Further, the manipulated brick may have its avatar on thevirtual screen changed so as to be a different shape than the physicallymanipulated brick; in this case, the physically manipulated brick may beof arbitrary shape.

In yet another embodiment, a toy brick with an accelerometer may beplaced in a brick constructed car, such as that shown in FIG. 24, andthe acceleration, velocity and position of the car, transmitted andplotted on a mobile or fixed computing device. This will allow standardphysics experiments such as acceleration down an inclined plane to begenerated with ease. In addition, g forces during a crash test can beplotted and examined. It should be noted that the data may be stored onthe brick itself for later retrieval, rather than transmitted in realtime.

In yet another embodiment, bricks may be grouped by electronicaddressing scheme, as described below with reference to in FIG. 33, suchthat they may respond individually or as a group to a stimulus. By wayof example, four identical toy bricks capable of changing color whenshaken, two may be programmed to become red and two may be programmed toturn green. In yet another example of addressing and grouping, brickswith the actuator being a motor may be grouped by electronic addressingscheme. Such bricks may be incorporated in two grouped squadrons of toybrick airplanes, and one or the other squadron selectively commanded tospin their propellers upon command from a fixed or mobile computingdevice via wireless command. It can be seen by a person skilled in theart that electronic addressing will allow an entire landscape of toybricks 10 to be commanded via radio or other signal individually,grouped or in a time sequenced manner.

In another embodiment, such as shown in FIG. 19, one or more LCD orother type of color or monochrome displays may be embedded within thebrick and multiple images from multiple displays, or multiple imagesfrom a single display may be transmitted to one or more surfaces of thetoy brick via optical elements such as but not limited to prisms,lenses, as shown in FIG. 21, or by means of light guides such as opticalfibers 101 as shown in FIG. 22. By way of example, a toy brick 10 shapedas a flying insect as shown in FIGS. 26-28 may be set to display, forexample, the image of a bee 105 as in FIG. 26, or display the image of alocust 106 as in FIG. 27, or an altogether different image 107 as inFIG. 28. The toy brick 10 may be opaque with only some areas having adisplay, or fiber optic. Brick 10 may have its image updated viaintegral wireless connection to a fixed or mobile computing device 109as shown in FIG. 29. The display device can also be of a thin film wraparound type, such as an organic LCD or organic LED displays 86 as shownin FIG. 20. Such a display device can form the “skin” of the toy brickrather than a traditional flat screen device.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a toy brick solarpanel recharging system 108. System 108 includes a solar cell 16, orother photovoltaic source of electricity, which provide energy to energystorage element 26, typically in the form of a battery or capacitor plusassociated charging circuitry. Energy storage element 26 is then used toprovide power to various systems 110, such as sensing element 30,computing control element 32 and actuators 34 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 31 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example of a toybrick inductively coupled recharging system 112 including an inductivecharging device 24, typically in the form of an electrical coil, whichsupplies electrical energy to energy storage element 26, typically inthe form of a battery or capacitor plus associated charging circuitry.As with the example of FIG. 28, energy storage element is then used toprovide power to various systems 110.

FIG. 32 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a crash testrecording algorithm 114. After start at step 116, acceleration in allthree axes is checked at step 118. If acceleration is not greater than athreshold along any of the X, Y or Z axes as determined at step 120,control is returned to step 118; otherwise control is transferred tostep 122. At step 122 one or more of acceleration, velocity and positiondata is recorded and/or transmitted until acceleration is below athreshold value or until a threshold time period has elapsed. Thereaftercontrol is passed to step 124 at which one or more of acceleration,velocity and position data is transmitted to computing control element32. After that the algorithm terminates at step 126.

FIG. 33 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of an addressabledevice communication algorithm 128. After start step 130, broadcast datais received from a fixed or mobile computing device at step 132.Thereafter, at step 134, an inquiry is made whether or not the broadcastaddress matches a device address or an address in an address bank. Ifno, control returns to step 132. If yes, control passes to step 136. Atthat step the broadcast data is acted upon to, in this example, actuatea device or display an image as prescribed. By way of example, assumeuse of binary 8 Bit addressing with a possibility of 256 uniquelyaddressable light emitting toy bricks 10, such as that shown in FIG. 17.The toy bricks 10 may be assigned arbitrarily to banks, such that bricks1, 56 and 233 will be in bank “A” and bricks 2, 45 and 123 are in bank“B”. A signal may be sent to all bricks in bank “A” to turn on anddisplay red, and all bricks in bank “B” to turn on and emit green light.Thereafter control passes to stop step 138.

FIG. 34 is a flow diagram illustrating a color change brick algorithm140. After start step 142, either three-dimensional brick tilt data isobtained from a 3 dimensional tilt sensor 46 or information on the colorto be displayed is received from a mobile or fixed computing device viaan RF transceiver 44 at step 144. Next, at step 146, the color to bedisplayed based on the data received from the sensor is computed. Atstep 148 the color is displayed on the toy brick 10 by adjusting red,green and blue intensities as needed. Thereafter control is passed tothe stop step 150.

The final algorithm to be discussed is the algorithm for avatarmanipulation 152 shown in the flow diagram of FIG. 35. This algorithm isrun on the fixed or mobile computing device, not illustrated, receivingdata from the brick being manipulated. After start step 154 data isreceived from a manipulated toy brick at step 156, by way of example,from sensors such as orientation sensor 46 and position sensor 50, andcommunicated via transceiver 44. Next, at step 158, the position andorientation of toy brick 10 is computed. Next, the avatar of the toybrick 10 is displayed on a display screen, such as found on a smartphone, a fixed computer or a tablet computer, at step 160. Followingthat, at step 162 the program checks to see if toy brick 10 has moved ina clicking motion, signifying the toy brick is to be cemented in thatposition, or some other signal signifying that the toy brick is to becemented in position is received. If no, control is returned to step156. If yes, control passes to step 164 at which the brick avatar iscemented in position on the screen, followed by return of control tostep 156.

In some examples, computing control element 32 is a user reprogrammablecomputer control element in contrast with a computer control elementthat cannot be reprogrammed during normal use, but typically only in amanufacturing-type environment. Such reprogramming can take place in themanners discussed above with regard to the communication algorithm ofFIG. 33, the color change algorithm of FIG. 34, and the avatarmanipulation algorithm of FIG. 35. That is, the reprogramming ofcomputer control element 32 can be accomplished by either specificallyreprogramming the software or as a function of how the toy brick 10 isused.

In some examples, toy brick 10 can generate an output based upon acurrently sensed input value and a previously sensed input value. Thisis opposed to a decision based on a current input only, such as singlepush of a button. This aspect is based in part on things that happenedprior to an event, e.g., two buttons pushed one second apart. In digitalcomputing terms current and previous means more than one clock apart,which in the current generation of computers running at say 4 GHz is1/(4×10̂9)=0.25 nanoseconds. A computer's ability to define NOW andBEFORE is defined by its clock speed, since it can only sense thingsonce per clock cycle. However it is possible to have an analog computerdo a continuous time integral, for example, the time integral ofacceleration yields velocity, and you could have a trigger that triggerswhen the velocity, as computed by a continuous integral of acceleration,exceeds a certain velocity. In another example, toy brick 10 may beprovided an input in the form of a signal received by RF transceiver 44telling toy brick to await further instruction in the form of an oralcommand received by microphone 40.

In some examples, toy brick 10 can generate an output(s) or time courseof output(s) based on a time course an input(s), wherein the currentoutput(s) or time course of output(s), is determined by mathematicalcomputations based on previous input(s) as well as the current input(s).An example of this is a force or acceleration sensor(s) the signals fromwhich can be integrated to find velocity and integrated again to computeposition. Integration is the area under the curve, which is a functionof the past history of the signal amplitude over time. In otherexamples, the mathematical function described can be altered in thefield via wired or wireless download of new algorithms. An example ofthis is a brick which can emit green light when shaken, or can be, forexample, reprogrammed via Bluetooth connection to emit red light whenshaken. In a further example, each input has more than two possiblestates (with on and off being two states). Instead, each input may havea continuum of gradually changing values, such as would exist with theinput from an accelerometer, the brick may be programmed to continuouslychange through all the colors of the rainbow as it is tilted in variousorientations.

In other examples, toy brick 10 can perform one way or two waycommunication with an external device wirelessly. The messaging betweenthe devices being more complicated than the detection and/or generationof an instantaneous presence or absence of signal, and is a decoding ofthe time course of such a signal, said time course carrying an embeddedmessage.

An example of this type of toy brick is one which responds to thecomplex on/off time course of pulsations of light carrying a messagefrom, for example, an infrared remote control.

It can be seen to a person skilled in the art that such a self-containedbrick with power, sensing, actuation and control elements within it,sacrifices little of the complex functions possible with the multi-brickprior art. Instead it allows a simple user experience for a small child,and removes the burden of programming the function to the factory, aparent, a teacher, or an older child. The intelligent toy brick providesa much different, much more accessible user experience than themulti-brick intelligent systems described in prior art.

Description of Baseplate Assemblies

FIG. 36 is an overall view of a baseplate assembly 200 including broadlya baseplate 202 removably mounted to an image generating device 204.Device 204 is typically a pad computer, such as an iPad® computer madeby Apple Computer, having a large display screen 206. Image generatingdevice 204 is often referred to as computer 204. In some examples,baseplate 202 and image generating device 204 can be an integral,one-piece device. A portion of baseplate 202 in FIG. 36 is removed todisclose display screen 206 of image generating device 204. The portionof baseplate 202 covering display screen 206, commonly referred to asdisplay region 208, is preferably made of an essentially colorless,transparent material so that images generated by computer 204 at thedisplay screen 206 are transmitted through baseplate 202 for viewing bya user, as well as other uses discussed below, at the display region.Display region 208 is surrounded by an outer region 210 which overliesthe outer edge 212 of computer 204. Baseplate 202 has coupling elements14 extending from its upper surface 214 to permit toy blocks 10 to beremovably mounted to the baseplate. In addition to being viewable by auser, images transmitted through display region 208 of baseplate 202 canalso be used for interaction with toy blocks 10, also discussed in moredetail below. Baseplate 202 includes mounting structure 215 by which thebaseplate can be removably mounted to the image generating device 204 sothat display region 208 is positioned adjacent to and opposite displayscreen 206. In this example mounting structure 215 in the form of a lip.Other types of mounting structures 215, including clips and releasableadhesives, may also be used.

Display screen 206 may be a flat panel display where the lightgenerating pixels are directly visible, such as with the screens oftablet computers. Other examples may be a different implementation wherethe image is generated remotely and transmitted to baseplate 202; oneexample of this is shown in FIG. 37. In this example, a DLP projectionsystem 260, such as available from Texas Instruments, may be used.System 260 typically includes a light source 262, which, in someexamples of the laser light source, which generates a light beam 262which passes through a first optical element 264 and then onto thesurface of a DLP mirror 266. DLP mirror 266 can include over 1 millionhinge mounted microscopic mirrors which project the light beam 262containing the image through a second optical element 268 to baseplate202. Another alternative to the pad computer example is shown in FIG.38. In this example, a display screen 206 is positioned at an angle to amirror 270 to direct the image from display screen 206 onto baseplate202. The technology for generating the image is can be such as but notlimited to LCD, plasma, organic LED, lamp with color wheel and DLP chip.

The image can also be transferred to the upper surface 214 of thebaseplate 202 in other manners. Two such examples are shown in in FIGS.39 and 40. In these examples, baseplate 202 is made up of numerousoptical fibers 274 extending from the lower surface 272 to the uppersurface 214 with lower surface 272 being positioned opposite displayscreen 206 or other image generating surface such as DLP mirror 266. Theimage created at upper surface 214 can be the same size or differentsize as the image created at the display screen 206. In FIG. 40 theimage created at upper surface 214 is larger than shown at displayscreen 206 while in FIG. 40 the images are the same size.

FIGS. 41 and 42 are top plan views of a baseplate assembly in which thebaseplate includes a first portion 216, generally consisting of outerregion 210, which generally overlies outer edge 212 of computer 204, anda second portion 218 sized to fit within the interior of first portion216 and overlie a portion of a display screen 206. Second portion 218defines an open region 220 which provides direct visual access to a partof display screen 206. FIG. 43 shows the structure of FIG. 41 with analternative second portion 218 of baseplate 202 occupying the entireinterior of first portion 216 of baseplate 202 thereby completelycovering display screen 206. First portion 216 may be transparent,translucent or opaque while it is preferred that second portion 218 bemade of an essentially colorless, transparent material to permit visualimages to be transmitted therethrough.

FIG. 43 also illustrates an image 222 projected from display screen 206onto display region 208 of baseplate 202. While image 222 is typically atwo-dimensional image, computer 204 can be of the type which generatesan image viewable as a three-dimensional image, typically with the useof specialized glasses. Examples of technologies that can generate animage suitable for 3 dimensional viewing include the following.Stimulation of 3D can be achieved by generating two slightly differentstereoscopic images on a flat screen, as would be seen by the left andthe right eye. These images can be selectively directed to the left orthe right eye by a variety of means. One method of selectively directingthe image to one eye only, is to make one image of one color and theother image of a different color. The user then wears eye glasses withfilters that only transmit one or the other color on the left and righteye, such that each eye receives a different image, as would be seenwhen viewing a physical 3 dimensional object. Another method ofselectively directing the image to one eye only is by way ofpolarization. The two images can be projected by 2 separate sources oflight of orthogonal polarization onto a single screen, and the screenviewed with eye glasses with orthogonal polarization filters for eacheye. The images can also be projected or created by a single source thatchanges the image and the polarization of a filter in front of thesingle source at a speed adequately fast that the eye will see thepresence of two images simultaneously.

Another type of three-dimensional imaging can be through the use ofholographic projection. Holographic projection can be created byprojecting a laser through a film that contains a prerecordedinterference pattern of light from a solid object. A moving hologram canbe created by replacing the film with a “Spatial Light Modulator” whichcan be an array of small movable mirrors as in a DLP chip. The mirrorscan generate a varying interference pattern as would be created by amoving object, thus creating a moving hologram.

In some situations computer 204 includes a touch sensitive membrane 224as a part of display screen 206 as shown in FIG. 44. Pad computerstypically include touch sensitive membranes as part of their displayscreens. Touch sensitive technologies can be broadly grouped into twotechnologies, single-touch and multi-touch. The single touch systemstypically have four or fewer conductors and the multi-touch have a gridof X and Y conductors which are scanned. The conductors are typically inthe form of two transparent sheets with transparent electrodes which arespaced apart by a resistive or dielectric medium, depending on if thetouch is sensed by resistance change or capacitance change. When thesheets are pushed together or touched the magnitude of the resistance orcapacitance change can be used together with the knowledge of theelectrodes most affected by the change to compute the position of thetouch.

FIG. 44 is a simplified partial cross-sectional view of an example ofbaseplate assembly 200 of FIG. 36 in which the image generating device204 includes touch sensitive membrane 224 situated directly above thedisplay screen 206. Touch sensitive membrane 224 and display screen 206are shown spaced apart from one another for purposes of illustration.Access regions 225 are provided at positions on baseplate 202 to permitaccess to membrane 224. In one example shown in FIG. 44, access regions225 are provided at coupling elements 14 at which portions of baseplate202 surrounding coupling elements 14 are thinned, flexible elements 226.This permits coupling elements 14 to be deflected by a user from thespaced apart position shown in FIG. 44 to a position, not shown,contacting touch sensitive membrane 224 to allow input to computer 204.

FIGS. 45 and 46 show alternative examples of the structure of FIG. 44 inwhich the flexible elements 226 are thin, zigzag flexible elements 226in the example of FIG. 45, and are spaced apart flexible elements 226created by cutouts 228 in baseplate 202 in the example of FIG. 46.

FIG. 47 is a further alternative example of the structure of FIG. 44 inwhich access regions 225 are created by holes 230 formed in baseplate202 at positions offset from the coupling elements. In this example, theuser touches the touch sensitive membrane 224 directly with, forexample, a stylus or the tip of the user's finger.

FIG. 48 is a simplified partial top view of a baseplate 202 including agrid 232 of a set of parallel, spaced apart first electrodes 233 and aset of parallel, spaced apart second electrodes 234. First and secondelectrodes 233, 234 are oriented perpendicular to one another.Electrodes 233, 234 are electrically coupled to computer 204 to providean indication of where on baseplate 202 the user is touching thebaseplate. This technique is conventional and can be based uponresistance change or capacitance change depending on whether thematerial separating the electrodes is a resistive medium or a dielectricmedium. Capacitive touch electrodes as shown in FIGS. 48 and 49 aregenerally designed so that the field that exists between the electrodestravels to the surface of the dielectric so as to be affected by touch.Electrodes 233, 234 are preferably essentially transparent so not tointerfere with transmission of the image from computer 204. Incapacitive touch sensing, two electrodes as seen in FIGS. 48 and 49 areseparated by a dielectric medium such as the material 276 of baseplate202. As shown in FIG. 49, the electric field lines 278 between theconductors 233, 234 can be changed by the presence of another dielectricor conductive medium such as a finger F or a stylus. The change in theelectric field lines 278 causes a change in the capacitance between theconductors 233, 234, which can be measured by electronic circuits toascertain the position of touch. A good explanation of such technologyis given in the Microchip TB3064 Document, and in application noteAN3863 from Freescale semiconductor.

FIGS. 50-70 relate to the interaction between various playing pieces,including toys, tokens, game playing pieces and the toy bricks 10discussed above, and a baseplate assembly 200. To simplify thedescription of the following figures, in the discussion below thespecific playing pieces will typically be referred to as toy bricks 10.However, playing pieces other than toy bricks 10 may typically also beused.

FIG. 50 is a simplified top view of baseplate assembly 200 of FIG. 36showing an image 222 projected onto display region 208 of baseplate 202.Based upon the location of a toy brick 10, or other playing piece, onthe baseplate, information, such as a message or signal, can be providedthe toy brick by the image.

FIG. 51 is a view similar to that of FIG. 50 but in which a portion ofthe image 222 generated by display screen 206 is dimmed to conveyinformation to toy brick 10 by way of a first signal 235. Generallyspeaking, using intensity variations of all or part of image 222 createsan integrated visual image 222 including visual images 223 and opticallyencoded message images 235, sometimes referred to as first signals 235,to permit information to be transmitted to toy bricks 10.

In some examples, computer 204 will send an optically coded message as aseries of intensity variations in time. These intensity variations willbe received by toy bricks 10, capable of receiving and responding to theoptically coded message, that have been placed onto baseplate 202. Anexample of what is sometimes referred to as an intelligent toy brick 10including a light detector 42 is shown in FIGS. 2, 4,59 and 64. Theintensity variations can be localized to a patch of pixels in displayregion 208 under/adjacent to each coupling element 14 as shown in FIGS.50 and 51. After a message is sent in the form of intensity variationsat one coupling element 14, a similar action would performed at the nextcoupling element 14, so as to scan the entire baseplate 202. Theintelligent toy bricks 10 placed upon the baseplate 202 will respondvia, for example, optical/RF/sound encoded second signal 238, as shownin FIG. 59, discussed below with reference to FIGS. 64-67, to one ormore receptors 236 on the baseplate 202 as shown in FIG. 52. Preferablyonly one coupling element 14 and one toy brick 10 will be stimulatedwith a message at any one time, and only one toy brick 10 will send asecond signal 238 to the receptor 236 of the computer 204. The messagesent from the toy brick 10 may contain information as to the type of toybrick placed upon the baseplate 202. The computer 204 will then know theposition of the toy brick 10 that is communicating its properties, sincethe computer knows the position of the patch of pixels that is sendingthe encoded message. In this manner, the computer 204 may command theintelligent toy bricks 10 placed upon it to perform functions, or evenchange the image 222 displayed on display region 208 interactively toperform a gaming function wherein the baseplate assembly 200 responds tothe toy brick 10 placed upon it. A single layer of toy bricks 10 placedupon the baseplate 202 can be interrogated in this manner.

In some examples, it is possible to simultaneously stimulate more thanone position with different optically encoded messages, since each patchof pixels, at each coupling element 14, may simultaneously havedifferent encoded intensity variations, the message encoding theposition being stimulated. It is possible for one or more toy bricks 10to simultaneously communicate with one or more receptors 236, as is doneby way of example in CDMA (code division multiple access) cell phones oras done in Anti Collision NFC Tags. Each toy brick 10 mounted tobaseplate 202 will send the message it receives from the display screen206 in addition to information about the properties of the toy brick,thereby enabling the image generating device 204 to compute the positionand type of toy bricks placed upon it.

It can be seen by a person skilled in the art that the intensityvariations encoding the message sent by the image generating device 204can be at a level imperceptible to a user viewing the entire displayregion 208, but is detectible by sensitive electronics on the toy brick10 as placed upon the display region 208. The encoding can be ofadequate complexity so as to even be detectable over the intensityvariations of a moving image. By way of example, the encoded message maybe encoded on a carrier of a known frequency, as for example IR remotecontrols encode the message on a carrier at 40 KHz or so. An example ofa miniature optical receiver is the SFH506 IR receiver/demodulatordevice made by Siemens, which is a fully integrated device capable ofdelivering a digital data stream from a modulated light signal. Suchencoding allowing signals resulting from varying of an image to bedistinguished from the encoded message, in much the same manner as oneradio station can be heard even though many radio stations and sourcesof radio frequency noise are present in the ether simultaneously.

The communication from the image generating device 204 to the toy brick10 includes one or more of information requests and information sent,such as but not limited to send brick type information, send avatarimage, send gaming powers of/weapons possessed, receives new avatarimage, receive new gaming powers/weapons, and enable RFID/RF transponderfor X seconds.

The communication from the toy brick 10 back to the display computer 204through receptor 236 can be by way of example but not limited to:

-   -   1) An audible or inaudible sound sent from the toy brick 10        received by one or more microphones, acting as receptors 236,        attached to the baseplate assembly 200, by way of example        implemented as an audio modem with an audio codec chip such as        the ADAU1772 chip from Analog Devices.    -   2) A visible or invisible light encoded message sent to one or        more light receptors 236 through air or through light guides in        the baseplate 202, by way of example implemented with a        miniature optical receiver such as the SFH506 from Siemens.    -   3) RF encoded signal, such as but not limited to, Bluetooth        implemented with a module such as the SPBT2532C2.AT from        STMicroelectronics, ZigBee implemented with an integrated        circuit such as the CC2520 from Texas Instruments, or RFID        implemented with an integrated circuit such as the Texas        Instruments TRF7970A.

The communications from the toy brick 10 to the baseplate assembly 200contain information such as but not limited to:

-   -   1) Shape and size of the toy brick 10 placed upon baseplate 202,    -   2) Information from sensors located inside the toy brick 10,    -   3) Gaming or characteristics or special powers weapons or        appearance of an Avatar of the toy brick 10.    -   4) A serial number, which can be for example an address into a        lookup table on the computing device attached to the display or        on the internet to provide the information in (1) or (3) above.

FIG. 52 is a top plan view of a baseplate assembly 200 including areceptor 236 which can receive a second signal 238 from a toy brick 10mounted to the display region 208 of the baseplate 202. The secondsignal 238 is generated in response to the information provided by thefirst signal 235 of image 222 projected onto the display region 208 ofthe baseplate 202. The signal generated by the toy brick 10 can includeinformation such as the type of toy brick and additional informationsuch as a part of the message that was received from the baseplate whichcontains data encoding position information.

The message from the display can be encoded in space rather than time,such as a one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcode. FIG. 53 illustratean example in which a portion of the image acting as first signal 235 isin the form of a two dimensional barcode 253 which can be scanned orimaged by a toy brick 10 placed on the display region 208 of thebaseplate 202. Toy brick 10 would then send a message to computer 204with its characteristics and the barcode seen, enabling computer 204 tocompute the position and type of the toy bricks 10 placed upon baseplate202.

An example of a formal software implementation of a scanning routine, isas shown in FIG. 54, sends messages to bricks 10 via the imagegenerating device 204. The exemplary method implemented is bestunderstood by realizing that the image 222 on the display screen 206 isstored in a memory (display RAM) as shown in FIG. 55. By way of example,but not limited to a 1024×768 Display which has a memory array that is1024×768 and each location of that memory array is capable of storingthree RGB (red, green, blue) values, each value typically being 8 bitsor 16 bits wide, allowing a number from 0-255 or 0-65535 respectively toexpress the color intensity. The intensity at each of these locationscan be defined as D(n) as shown in FIG. 56, where (n) is the spatiallocation. In the case of 1024×768=786432 gives (n) a range from 1 to786432. The “intensity” can be a simple sum of the RGB values, and theintensity can be changed without changing the color by multiplying allthree RGB values by the same number. Other variations such as a slightcolor change can also be utilized in order to encode a message.

Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 55-57,other memory arrays of 1024×768 canbe defined for other data with a correspondence between the data at apoint (n) in those arrays and the corresponding point (n) of the image:I(n) can be the Image that is desired to be displayed, which istypically created independently by the gaming software runningconcurrently to the scanning software. C(n) is the communications datato be added on top of the image data, such that D(n)=I(n)+C(n) as shownin FIG. 56. It can be seen that while (n) describes the spatialvariation of the image, the equation is also a function of time (t) suchthat D(n)(t)=I(n)(t)+C(n)(t) which allows both the image and thecommunication data to vary in time and space. Such a temporal variationallows serial communication data on top of a moving image generated bythe gaming routines. The addition (+) shown is by way of example and canbe another mathematical function instead. In another embodiment, themessage C(n)(t) may also be directed to an LCD backlight, which by wayof example can be an array of individually addressable white LEDs.

Further, as shown in FIG. 57, the communication data C(n)(t) to be addedto the Image data is created by way of example but not limited to themessage M(n)(t) multiplied or convolved with a modulation functionU(n)(t), which yields C(n)(t)=M(n)(t)×U(n)(t). In this example, C(n)(t)need not vary for each display pixel (n), and may be the same messagefor a patch of pixels.

The modulation function U(n)(t) can be simple amplitude modulation of acarrier such as ASin(wt), or a more complex scheme like CDMA whichallows many devices to talk at once.

The contents of the data received from a stimulated brick can then bestored in another 1024×768 RAM. In this manner information, such as thepositions, gaming powers/weapons or Avatar images, of all toy bricksplaced on the display baseplate is made available to any concurrentlyrunning gaming software, as a “map”. By way of example, a block diagramof the data path for such a scheme is as shown in FIG. 55.

FIG. 58 is a possible implementation of a baseplate 202 withtriangulation capability. In this implementation toy bricks 10 withpassive or active RFID tags 284 embedded in them as shown in FIG. 59,are interrogated by an NFC (near field communication) reader 285 with aninterrogation antenna coil 286 which is wound around the perimeter ofthe display region 208 of baseplate 202. The reader 285 sends any dataobtained from interrogation of NFC transponders within its vicinity tothe computing device attached to the display 208 by means of device 287,which may be a wired connection such as but not limited to USB, flashlightning port or a wireless transponder such as, but not limited to,Bluetooth, WiFi or ZigBee. In the case of a passive RFID tag 284 in thetoy brick 10, the coil 286 would power the tags from via near fieldmagnetic coupling with the RFID receive coil 288 as well as read thedata from the tag. Since RFID Tags 284 normally transmit wheninterrogated by the coil 286, triangulation is achieved by having afurther circuit, as shown in FIG. 59, in the toy brick, which onlyenables the tag to transmit data 290 (second locating signal) when anoptical “transmit” message 292 (first locating signal) is also receivedsimultaneously or previously from the display baseplate. The baseplate202 will typically scan patches of pixels in sequence on a square grid,with the “transmit” message 292, each patch of pixels typically being,but not limited to, a square of dimensions equal to the spacing betweentwo adjacent releasable couplings of the toy brick. In this manner thepositions and types of bricks on the baseplate can be ascertained by thebaseplate assembly 200, that is baseplate 202 and associated imagegenerating device 204. Most inexpensive passive RFID tags are “readonly” and contain a unique 128 bit address. In the event of the use of aread only tag, a further database or look-up table containing the brickcharacteristics can be kept on the baseplate assembly 200 or even at aremote location accessible via the internet; such a database would beread and written to, allowing update and modification of the toy bricksvirtual characteristics even though the tag is read only. Tags such asthe TRPGR30TGC, which is a fully encapsulated tag currently used for petidentification, and the TRF7970A integrated circuit, both from TexasInstruments, and the MCRF355/360 from Microchip Technology, are examplesof existing devices which may be slightly modified to achieve thisfunction. The circuits required for the reader are given by way ofexample in the MCRF45X reference design and application notes AN759 andAN760 from Microchip Technology. Other more complex protocols such asbut not limited to the use of “Anti Collision Tags”, which can haveseveral tags being enabled to transmit at once, can also be used.

A playing piece 10 which can interact with a baseplate assembly 200capable of triangulating its position in a manner as shown in FIG. 59 isalso possible. By way of example, a Hot-Wheels® Toy car equipped in asimilar manner as shown in FIG. 59, may be rolled over a triangulatingbaseplate 202, such as shown in FIG. 58 or 60, and an image of aracetrack may appear on display region 208 of baseplate 202 with the carin the middle of the racetrack. In another example, a Small Barbie Doll®with such a transponder as in FIG. 59 may when placed on a displayregion 208, cause the display screen 206 of computer 204, and thusdisplay region 208 of baseplate 202, to show a Tea Party and emitrelevant sounds. Indeed a Barbie doll equipped with a speaker may berecognized at a certain position on display region 208 of baseplate 202and sent speech (via the display messaging system as described in FIG.55) to recite and to interact with a “Ken” Doll placed at a differentposition on the display region, who may be sent different speech (viathe display messaging system) to recite. A gaming token type of playingpiece equipped with flashing lights may be sent a message to flashlights if it was recognized as being placed at the correct position onthe display to win.

A tablet computer and smart phones with embedded NFC readers, such asthe Google Nexus 10, typically have smaller interrogation coils which donot encircle the entire display screen 206 as shown in FIG. 58, arecurrently available for the purpose of NFC Credit card transactions andfor sending photos and data between such devices when they are heldtogether and “tapped”. Such a device would need to be modified toimplement a scheme as described in FIG. 55 in order to triangulate theposition of an object placed upon it.

It is also possible to have a toy brick or other playing piece 10 asshown in FIGS. 59 and 60 with two optical receptors 237 placed atdifferent points on it. Each optical receptor enabling the NFCtransponder 248 only when the optical “turn on” message is received bythat particular receptor when the display below it stimulates it with amessage. In this manner the position of two points on the toy, relativeto the display, may be ascertained. This information allows theorientation of the toy with respect to the display to be determined. Byway of example, a toy piece shaped as a flashlight may, when placed onthe display assembly, be recognized as a flashlight and create a virtualbeam on the display. The orientation and origin of the beam may becomputed by knowledge of the position and orientation of the playingpiece.

The beam may even cast virtual shadows for other playing pieces placedon the surface of the display, or even illuminate and cast shadows forvirtual objects that are displayed on the display.

Coupling elements 14 may be loose fitting bumps or pockets on thebaseplate so as to constrain the bricks in the plane of the display butallow them to be easily removed when lifted up from the plane of thedisplay. As suggested in FIG. 60, in some examples, display region 208can be made without any coupling elements 14, particularly when theplaying piece 10 is not a toy brick 10 or other playing piece havingstructure which allows it to be secured to upper surface 214 by couplingelements 14.

FIG. 61 is a schematic representation of a baseplate 202 includingcolumn scan lines 240 extending in one direction and row scan lines 242extending in a transverse direction, the scan lines bounding thecoupling elements 14. Electrical coils 244 are connected to the row andcolumn scan lines 240, 242 at their intersections for communication withtoy bricks 10, typically positioned directly above the coils. Column androw scan lines 240, 242 and coils 244 can communicate with or provideinductively coupled power to the bricks, or both, placed directly abovethem by RF, electrical field or magnetic field. The number ofconnections required to communicate with the coils can be reduced bymeans of the XY scanned grid of column and row scan lines 240, 242. Sucha baseplate 202 would preferably have some electronics such as amicrocontroller or keyboard scanner circuit to scan the XY lines andcommunicate with a computing device via protocols such as but notlimited to USB, Lightning Port or Bluetooth.

FIG. 62 show structure similar to that of FIG. 61 but having a lightemitting device 246, such as an LED, at each intersecting column and rowscan lines 240, 242 and adjacent to coupling elements 14. LEDS 246 cansend messages or provide power in the form of light, or both, toappropriately configured toy bricks 10 placed directly above them byblinking visibly or invisibly. The toy bricks can then communicate backto baseplate assembly 200 through one or more receptors 236 using, forexample, RF, visible or invisible light, or sound as shown in FIGS.64-67. In the example of FIG. 64, first signal 235 is received by anappropriate sensing element 30, such as microphone 40, light detector42, RF transceiver 44 or camera 48, of toy brick 10. A signal 238 isthen provided to computing control element 32 which communicates withactuator 34 through lines 39 to create second signal 238 for receipt byone or more receptors 236 of computer 204. Types of actuators 34 aregiven by way of example but not limited to in FIGS. 65-67. Where anelectrical message 294 from the computing and control element 32 isreceived by amplifier 58 which sends the signal to either a soundemitter 82, or a light emitter 80 or an RF or NFC Transceiver 44 inorder to communicate the second signal to the Baseplate. The actuatorsas shown in but not limited to FIGS. 65-67 may also be used by thebaseplate.

A higher density of LEDs, or other light emitters 246, per releasablecoupling element 14 in structure such as shown in FIG. 62 can be thebasis of a toy brick baseplate 202 which is capable of graphicaldisplay, but with less detail than would be possible with a conventionalLCD. Such a baseplate would preferably have some electronics to scan theXY lines and communicate with a computing device via protocols such asbut not limited to USB, Lightning Port or Bluetooth.

FIG. 63 and FIG. 68 show a baseplate assembly 200 includingtriangulating transmitters/receptors 250 at the four corners ofbaseplate 202 to permit the position of the toy brick 10 on thebaseplate to be determined. Baseplate assembly 200 can use 3 or moreRF/NFC /sound/light transmitters/receptors 250 at different positions onbaseplate assembly 200. Each of these transmitters/receptors 250 canemit a specific signal, preferably simultaneously, and each toy brick 10would measure the time delay between the pulses received from each ofthe devices 250. Each toy brick 10 can then compute its position bytrigonometric methods and transmit the type of brick and its positionback to baseplate assembly 200 through transmitters/receptors 250 bymeans of, for example, RF, light or sound transmissions. The reverse isalso possible and equivalent, where the toy brick 10 emits a signal andthe time difference of the signals being received by thetransmitters/receptors 250 on the baseplate assembly 200 indicates theposition of the toy brick.

Examples of baseplate assembly 200 have the ability to ascertain theposition, orientation and characteristics of a toy brick 10 placed uponit, by passive means such as a camera and optical recognition, or byactive means such but not limited to RFID or radio frequencytriangulation. The toy bricks 10 placed upon baseplate 202 may inaddition have sensors on them to transmit their orientation and motion.By way of example, a toy brick figure when manipulated in a waddling orwalking manner may cause the scenery displayed on the baseplate toadvance as if the toy brick figure were walking through the environment.

The manipulation of smaller toy bricks 10 across upper surface 214 ofbaseplate 202 may also cause avatars in 2D or 3D to appear on displayscreen 206 and interact with other features of the displayed image. Thevirtual characteristics of a toy brick or toy brick figure may be storedin nonvolatile memory on the baseplate assembly 200 or even nonvolatilememory on the toy brick 10 being manipulated. Further, the virtualcharacteristics of the toy brick being manipulated may change due tointeraction with the environment on upper surface 214 of baseplate 202.The changed characteristics may be retained in the physical toy brick10, or elsewhere, such as at a remote location on the internet, suchthat the toy brick when taken to a different baseplate assembly 200, thecurrent baseplate assembly 200 may recall the exact environment on thedisplay screen 206 of the prior baseplate assembly 200 and also thecharacteristics of the avatar from the previous interactive experiencewith the prior baseplate assembly.

The interaction between the baseplate assembly 200 and the toy brick 10placed upon it may be two-way. By way of example, a toy brick 10 that isequipped with a similar but smaller display device may receive images tobe displayed on its surface, dependent on its position on the baseplate.By way of example, a figural toy brick 10 may change its displayed imageto a beach garment when moved onto a beach scene on the baseplate 202.By way of another example, a toy brick could make a splashing noise whenplaced on a part of a display region 208 which has a water feature; thedisplay screen 206 may in addition show the resulting water splash.

A baseplate assembly 200 with triangulation capability may also be usedas a virtual building environment. A toy brick 10 that is moved overupper surface 214 can cause an avatar of the same toy brick 10 to appearon display screen 206, and then by a clicking/cementing motion/gesture,the avatar associated with that toy brick may be cemented to a virtualstructure, and the procedure repeated. The avatar need not be of thesame shape as the physical toy brick, and selection of the shape of theavatar may be by menu structure displayed on display screen 206 or evenby some physical manipulation of the toy brick or other triangulatableobject.

In another example, the display screen 206 may show schematicinstructions, for example, for the building a toy brick structure oreven an electrical circuit with circuit elements made of releasablecouplings such as in Snap-Circuits ® sold by Elenco Electronics, Inc.,of Wheeling Ill. The exact life size image of the building block orcircuit element may be displayed on the display screen 206 under thereleasable coupling elements 14 where it is to be snapped in, so that achild may create the assembly with ease.

It should be noted that an image generating device 204 may have all thefeatures that by way of example an iPad, or similar computing device,can have. By way of example, one or more the following may be possible:reaction of the image to touch, rechargeable power supply, programmableresponse to motion or time course of motion, or orientation, integralcamera, Bluetooth connection, WiFi connection, NFC reader, ability toplay movies, ability to display a touch sensitive interactive game,ability to send and receive audible signals or optically encodedtransmission and the like.

In another embodiment, baseplate assembly 200 may form a board game sucha Monopoly board game. The Monopoly figures, houses, and hotels, may allbe toy brick pieces, and their motion and position may be automaticallysensed as discussed above. By way of another example, a game of Scrabble® may be played with toy bricks with letters on them being placed onupper surface 214 displaying a Scrabble game board, the score even maybe automatically computed and displayed by automatic identification ofthe position and type of toy bricks 10, acting as letter tiles, placedon baseplate 202.

In another embodiment, players of a game may interact with a baseplateassembly 200 by means of smaller computing devices such as smart phones.Each player may affect the main displayed image on display screen 206 bymeans of software on the baseplate assembly 200 and which communicateswith software on smaller computing devices. The smaller computingdevices may in addition have clear baseplates attached, and placement oftoy bricks on the baseplate on the smaller devices may affect adisplayed image or game in the larger baseplate assembly 200, or even ona display screen 206 with no baseplate 202. Several smaller devices maysimultaneously or sequentially communicate with, and affect theenvironment of the larger baseplate assembly 200. The environment may befully interactive, such that by way of example, Monopoly money may betaken from one player and given to another player, and the amountsdisplayed on the main baseplate assembly 200, or even transferredbetween the smaller computing devices, depending by way of example onmovement of toy brick figures on the main baseplate assembly 200.

In another embodiment, is also possible to extend and route the displayimage and messaging in a 3^(rd) dimension away from the plane of thedisplay with the use of opaque, translucent or clear toy bricks 10 withoptical fibers 274 or other light guides embedded in them as shown inFIG. 69. In this manner, by way of example a toy brick Christmas treewith twinkling lights or an Ice Castle complete with twinkling lights onthe turrets can be made. A toy brick shaped as a Christmas tree withlight guides may be recognized by the baseplate assembly 200 andautomatically illuminated by the display with a twinkling light pattern.Note that this embodiment differs from other embodiments in which toybrick 10 is clear or transparent because the image is not visiblethrough the brick instead appears on the surface of the brick. In FIG.69 a combination of straight, parallel optical fibers 274 and curvedoptical fibers 274 are used to direct the image to more than one surfaceof the toy brick. In other examples, the optical fibers 274 could all beof one type.

Description of Image Generating and Playing-Piece-Interacting Assemblies

An example of an image generating and playing-piece-interacting assembly296 is shown in FIGS. 55 and 70. In this example, image 222 includesvisual image 223 and optically encoded message image 235, sometimesreferred to as first signal 235, to permit information to be transmittedto toy bricks 10 or other play pieces 10. Assembly 296 is shown in FIG.70 as a simplified schematic representation of components and devicesconstituting assembly 296 and suggesting their interaction. It should benoted that in some examples associated with FIG. 70, a baseplate 202 isnot used but rather receptor 236 is operably coupled to an imagegenerating device 204, typically a tablet computer. In such examples,toy bricks 10, or other playing pieces 10, can be positioned directly ondisplay screen 206 of image generating device 204. In other examples, abaseplate 202 can be used with receptor 236 typically mounted tobaseplate 202. In either event receptor 236 is operably coupled to theimage generating device 204, typically through a wired connection.Initially, some definitions and explanations are in order.

The optically encoded message image 235, is a one way signal from thedisplay screen 206 of image generating device 204, and sometimes throughdisplay region 208, to the optical display message sensor 237 of playingpiece 10. Optical display message sensor 237 generates a first signal241 based at least in part on the optically encoded message image 235and is a distinct component from any other sensor on the playing piece10.

The second signal 238 is a one-way, or a two-way, transaction betweenthe messaging transponder 248 of the playing piece 10 and the receptor236. This messaging transponder 248 on the playing piece 10 is distinctfrom any other actuator on the playing piece. The messaging transponder248 can be by way of example but not limited to, NFC, WiFi, Zigbee,Bluetooth, or infrared signal.

Sensors 30_are distinct from the optical display message sensor 237which receives the first signal 235. Sensors 30 may include componentssuch as but not limited to temperature sensors, touch sensors, forcesensors. In some examples, toy piece 10 does not include any sensors 30.

Actuators 34 are distinct from the messaging transponder 248 on theplaying piece 10 which creates and transmits the second signal 238.Actuators 34 may be, but are not limited to, light emitters or soundemitters or another transponder on the playing piece 10. As with sensor30, in some examples, toy piece 10 does not include any actuators 34.

Receptor 236 communicates with the messaging transponder 248 on theplaying piece 10. The receptor 236 may be a one way or two waytransponder. The following are examples of methods of triangulation oftoy pieces 10 using optically encoded message images 235 therebydetermining the physical location of a playing piece 10, typicallyrelative to the display screen 206.

In a first example, the same optically encoded image message 235 beingscanned across the display screen 206 is scanned sequentially acrosspatches of pixels. In this example, the message is essentially “turn onmessaging transponder 248”. The receipt of the first optically encodedmessage image by the optical display message sensor 237 turns on themessaging transponder 248, described as a transmitter/transceiver inFIG. 55, on the playing piece 10 above the currently stimulated patch ofpixels, for a certain period of time. This starts a one or two way,second message interaction with the image generating device 204 throughthe receptor 236, described as a receiver/transceiver in FIG. 55.Receptor 236 may be by way of example an RF transponder. The position ofthe playing piece 10 is revealed to the image generating device 204because the position of the optically encoded message image 235 is knownat the time when the second message is received.

In another example, a different first optically encoded message image235 is sent at different physical locations of the display screen 206.These different message images 235 can be sent simultaneously at alllocations or scanned one patch of pixels at a time. The differencesbetween the message images can be, by way of example but not limited to,determined by encoding the X,Y coordinates of the location which isbeing stimulated. The playing piece 10 receives this message via theoptical display message sensor 237 and can, when communicating with thereceptor 236 at a subsequent time, by way of the messaging transponder248, not necessarily coincident with the time of receipt of the firstoptically encoded message image 235, send the contents of firstoptically encoded message image 235 received in addition to data aboutthe playing piece 10 itself. The image generating device 204 then knowsthe position of the playing piece 10 and the type of playing piece 10.

Messaging can also be in addition to or instead of triangulation. Forexample, optically encoded message image 235 can contain data foractuators 34 on the playing piece 10. For example, the data for anactuator 34 can be to turn the playing piece 10 to a blue color. Thisoptically encoded message image 235 may be sent coincident with a visualimage 223 showing water, such that any playing piece 10 placed on thevisual image of water will turn blue. It should be noted that this doesnot require generation of a second signal 238 to receptor 236, nor doesit require triangulation of the position of the playing piece 10.

In another example, second signal 238 sent by the messaging transponder248 on the playing piece 10 to the receptor 236 may contain additionaldata from sensors 30 on the playing piece 10 in addition to other data.For example, the temperature of the playing piece 10 may be sent toreceptor 236, or the push of a button on the playing piece 10 can send a“shoot” signal to the receptor.

The message interaction involving second signal 238 between themessaging transponder 248 on the playing piece 10 and the receptor 236,may be a two way communication, which can send data for actuators 34 onthe playing piece 10. For example, speech can be sent to a speaker typeof actuator on the playing piece 10 by way of the second messageinteraction.

Two or more playing pieces 10 on the display screen 206, or on thedisplay region 208 of a baseplate 202 when used, may interact with eachother through the display screen based first signal 235 and subsequentsecond signal 238 to the receptor 236. Examples include but are notlimited to the following.

Two playing pieces 10 may be placed and oriented to face each other anda shoot button type of sensor 30 on each toy piece pushed, the progressof the bullet or other projectile is shown on the display screen 206,either directly on the display screen or as viewed on the display region208 when a baseplate 202 is used. This could be followed by the playingpiece 10 turning red if hit. Such an interaction using the first andsecond signals 235, 238 to compute position, in addition to the secondsignal 238 encoding the shoot button being pushed, in addition the oneway optically encoded message image or the second signal which is a twoway transaction in this example, sending a command to the playing piece10 being hit to turn red.

Two or more playing pieces 10 on the display screen 206, or baseplate202 when used, may interact with each other directly without using thedisplay transponder 248 through piece-to-piece signal 254. For example,the playing pieces 10 may compute their positions with the informationin the first display message image 235. Then the playing pieces 10 maycommunicate directly with other playing pieces 10 using the messagingtransponder 248 or another separate transponder; receptor 236 is notinvolved in the transaction.

The above descriptions may have used terms such as above, below, top,bottom, over, under, et cetera. These terms may be used in thedescription and claims to aid understanding of the invention and notused in a limiting sense.

While the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferredembodiments and examples detailed above, it is to be understood thatthese examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limitingsense. It is contemplated that modifications and combinations will occurto those skilled in the art, which modifications and combinations willbe within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the followingclaims. For example, images may be transmitted to display region 208using a fiber optic array extending between image generating device 204and the display region of the baseplate 202 as shown in FIGS. 39 and 40.Such a fiber optic array may or may not extend from a display screen 206on image generating device 204.

Any and all patents, patent applications and printed publicationsreferred to above are incorporated by reference.

1. An image generating and playing-piece-interacting assemblycomprising: an image generating device having a display screen on whichgenerated images can be displayed; the generated images comprisingintegrated visual images, and optically encoded message images; thedisplay screen comprising a backlight; the optically encoded messageimage being directed to the backlight; the display screen comprisingvisual image generating pixels; the digital images being directed to thevisual image generating pixels to create the visual image; a touchsensitive membrane operably coupled to the image generating device toallow a user to provide touch input; a receptor operably coupled to theimage generating device; a first playing piece at a first locationrelative to the display screen, the first playing piece comprising: anoptical display message sensor configured to receive the integratedvisual and optically encoded message image and to generate a firstsignal at least partially based upon the optically encoded messageimage; a messaging transponder coupled to the optical display messagesensor for receipt of at least the first signal from the optical displaymessage sensor; and the messaging transponder coupled to the receptorfor generating and sending to the receptor a second signal at leastpartially based upon the first signal.
 2. The assembly according toclaim 1, where in the receptor is at least one of a sound receptor, anelectromagnetic radiation receptor, and a magnetic field receptor, andthe second signal comprises a corresponding one of a sound secondsignal, an electromagnetic radiation field second signal, and a magneticfield second signal.
 3. The assembly according to claim 1, furthercomprising a baseplate mountable on the display screen, the baseplatecomprising a display region, the display region comprising couplingelements, by which playing pieces can be releasably mounted to thedisplay region.
 4. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein theoptically encoded message image is visually imperceptible to a user. 5.The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the optically encoded messageimage contains information encoded as being addressed to a specificplaying piece.
 6. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the secondsignal comprises one or more of the following (1) graphic representationfor the first playing piece, (2) other information for the first playingpiece, and (3) an address into at least one of a local database, aremote database, a look-up table; which contains information for thefirst playing piece.
 7. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein theoptically encoded message image changes according to the physicalposition of the optically encoded message image on the display screen.8. The assembly according to claim 7, wherein the optically encodedmessage image contains information regarding at least one of (1)coordinates for the physical position, and (2) information regarding thevisual image portion of the generated image at the physical position,(3) gaming data for the playing piece, (4) data for an actuator on theplaying piece.
 9. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein theoptically encoded message image is generated at a plurality of physicalpositions on the display screen, and wherein a second playing piece isat a second location relative to the display screen.
 10. The assemblyaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a second said image generatingdevice; a second said playing piece at a second location relative to thedisplay screen of the second image generating device; the first andsecond image generating devices being operably coupled; and an opticallyencoded message image to the second playing piece from the second saidimage generating device at least partially based upon the second signalfrom the first playing piece.
 11. The assembly according to claim 1,further comprising a second said playing piece at a second locationrelative to the display screen, an optically encoded message image tothe second playing piece at least partially based upon the second signalfrom the first playing piece.
 12. The assembly according to claim 11,wherein each of the first playing piece and the second playing piececomprises a playing-piece-to-playing-piece communication device topermit transfer of messages therebetween.
 13. The assembly according toclaim 1, wherein the first playing piece comprises a second opticaldisplay message sensor operably coupled to the messaging transponder.14. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the second signalprovides information to the image generating device as to where todisplay optically encoded messages for the first playing piece.
 15. Theassembly according to claim 1, wherein the second signal generated bythe first playing piece is automatically generated without further userinteraction following receipt of the optically encoded message image bythe optical display message sensor.
 16. The assembly according to claim1, wherein the first playing piece comprises a sensor coupled to themessaging transponder to provide sensor data to the messagingtransponder, so that the second signal can be generated at least in partbased on the sensor data.
 17. The assembly according to claim 1,wherein: the first playing piece comprises at least one of (1) anactuator operably coupled to receive a message from the optical displaymessage sensor, and (2) an actuator operably coupled to receive amessage from the messaging transponder; the message comprising data foractuation of the actuator.
 18. The assembly according to claim 17,wherein the data for actuation of the actuator causes the actuator to doat least one of the following: generate a colored light, generate animage, generate a sound, cause movement.
 19. The assembly according toclaim 1, further comprising an energy-transmitting near fieldcommunication (NFC) antenna and the playing piece comprises anenergy-receiving antenna, whereby the NFC antenna can providemagnetically coupled power transfer to the first playing piece.
 20. Theassembly according to claim 1, wherein: the first playing piece capableof generating a message; and wherein: at least one of the first playingpiece and the image generating device includes computer programinstructions stored on a non-transient storage medium that, whenexecuted on a processor, cause the processor to perform actionscomprising flow or branching dependent upon the message.